The group welcomes Badel Mbanga

We’d like to welcome the latest addition to our group, postdoctoral scholar Badel Mbanga who joined us today. Badel did his graduate studies at Kent State University, and arrived at Tufts by way of the University of Massachusetts Amherst  where he did  postdoctoral training with Christian Santangelo. His PhD dissertation work on finite element elastodynamics studies of nematic elastomers was supervised by Prof. Robin Selinger at the Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University: the aim was to help advance understanding of the interaction of nematic elastomers with external stimuli, as these materials have properties that promise a great future to the fields of soft robotics and artificial muscles. In the course of his PhD studies, Badel also did experimental work in measuring the giant flexoelectric response of bent-core liquid crystals.